FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT GAS LINE - PAGE 3

More than 100 residents along East Main Street were evacuated from their homes after a backhoe ruptured a high-pressure gas line Friday in downtown Westminster.There was no explosion or fire, and no one was injured.The 3-inch plastic line, carrying pressure of 100 pounds per square inch, was pulled from the ground by construction equipment about 11:50 a.m. It had been installed by Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. during recent reconstruction of the 100 block of E. Main St.The rush of gas could be heard on Willis Street, more than a block from the break near Lincoln Street.

Despite a call to "Miss Utility," a subcontractor's digging to install fiber-optic cable ruptured a natural gas line yesterday in Severna Park, prompting the evacuation of about 600 students and an early closing of nearby Folger McKinsey Elementary School, officials said. The subcontractor for Comcast Cable Co. hit the 2-inch gas line about 9:30 a.m. near Arundel Beach Road and Oak Court, Anne Arundel County fire officials said. Some of the gas seeped into the elementary school, so students were evacuated to an outdoor play area.

A Baltimore County utility crew repairing a sewer drain in Rossville struck a natural gas line Monday morning, which led emergency responders to seal off the area and close the westbound lane of Route 40, according to a Baltimore County police and fire spokeswoman. About 10 a.m., a crew with the Baltimore County Bureau of Utilities was repairing an 8-inch-wide sewer drain under Route 40, also known as Pulaski Highway, near the intersection of Rossville Boulevard when they struck the 2-inch-wide gas line, said Elise Armacost, the spokeswoman.

A plumber repairing an underground water pipe at an Odenton house was burned yesterday when the heat from a torch he was using melted a natural gas line and caused an explosion that shook other houses in the neighborhood.Greg Rubenstein, 38, was flown to the Baltimore Regional Burn Center at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center with second-degree burns on his arms, chest and face, a county EMS/Fire/Rescue spokesman said. He was listed in fair condition.The spokesman, Capt. Allan Graves, said Rubenstein was in a 4-foot-deep trench about 10: 30 a.m., repairing a water pipe that had burst at a home under construction in the 300 block of Ammunition Ave. in Seven Oaks.

A gas line being worked on by a Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. crew ruptured yesterday, sending flames roaring from a West Baltimore intersection and triggering the temporary evacuation of about 50 homes. No one was injured in the incident, and residents were allowed to return to their homes shortly after the blaze erupted at Arunah and Warwick avenues. Access streets were closed for much of the day as a plume of orange flame roared up from a manhole. Firefighters decided to let the natural gas burn away for more than three hours rather than attack it with hoses.

Anne Arundel County emergency personnel scurried up and down Ritchie Highway yesterday, chasing phantom bombs in Glen Burnie, potentially dangerous crab parts in Annapolis and a gas line break at Marley Station, all before lunch."

Repair work on a natural gas line shut down a stretch of Light Street near the Inner Harbor yesterday afternoon, snarling traffic during the busy Friday rush hour and threatening to disrupt downtown travel through the weekend. Authorities said Light Street between Conway Street and Key Highway could remain closed until tomorrow as crews with Baltimore Gas and Electric worked to repair a pipe connected to a major gas main near the Maryland Science Center. But a BGE spokeswoman said last night that officials hoped to complete the repairs overnight and reopen the street early today.

Baltimore County fire investigators ruled yesterday that the natural gas explosion that leveled an Essex duplex this month, trapping a homeowner and two firefighters in the rubble, was the result of a suicide attempt. No charges have been filed against Cecil W. Himes Jr., 38, who allegedly opened the gas line in the basement of his house in the 500 block of Chalcot Square, said Elise Armacost, a Fire Department spokeswoman. Seven people were injured in the explosion Nov. 2. Himes was in good condition at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center yesterday, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The number of homes and businesses affected by a combination water-main break and leaking gas line in Overlea grew to 1,600 yesterday after officials with Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. discovered that water had gotten into a gas main along Belair Road. The problem prompted the Baltimore County school system to announce the closing today of two area elementary schools - Fullerton and Elmwood. Water was restored to about 210 homes and 13 businesses late Saturday, hours after the dual breaks, which caused several furnace fires on Cardwell Avenue, were discovered.

A construction worker digging at a new building site at Fort Meade ruptured a 6-inch gas line and set fire to a construction vehicle yesterday, post officials said.With flames 15 feet high, the blaze continued for more than four hours from the line that runs along Mapes Road between Chisolm Avenue and Ernie Pyle Street, according to a post spokesman.Although no one was injured in the accident, the fire caused $185,000 in damage to the machine the worker was operating, which the company, CER Contract Co. of Baltimore, called a street cutter.